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Monday, December 12, 2011

Eddie Murphy opted out of the Oscar hosting gig (something I still have not forgiven him for) but will hopefully see a return to glory (and garner some awards attention) for his upcoming portrayal of crack smoking former Mayor of DC, Marion Berry.

HBO is developing the film and Spike Lee will be directing. John Ridley has been recruited to pen the script.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

The new season of Basketball Wives Miami kicks off next year and we have the new cast photo of the old and new ladies all dressed in white and looking fly. Let's hope these newbies fit in the circle a whole lot better than Meeka Claxton did!

Denise Vasi may not be a household name but some of you may recognize her from the defunct soap All My Children and the basic cable hit White Collar.

Well once Stacey Dash left Single Ladies, word on the street was that Megan Good was the front runner for the Atlanta based series, but Vasi has scored the part of Racquel who is described as a businesswoman and friend of Keisha's. What type of business is not known yet, but since the character has a different name we know it's not a recast of Val.

Vasi has the same exotic look as Dash, but let's just hope she does better acting wise than Dash whose lack of talent was the fodder of many a Twitter time line and Facebook post!

Jurnee Smollett (who is not seen as often as I would like and is my choice for Shelby in the all black version of Steel Magnolias casting gods :) has nabbed the lead in Tyler Perry's The Marriage Counselor. No costars have been named, but I'd like to send a shoutout to Jurnee on her good fortune!

A lot of people have mixed feelings about Shonda Rhimes. Some think she's television's saving grace with her color blind casting and witty storytelling, but there are also those that wish she offered more in her portrayals of people of color. To those people who are never satisfied, note that Shonda's strides are not only strides for her but for other women of color as well. Women whose voices and faces are hardly ever seen in Hollyweird.

Someone obviously likes what she 's doing because Shonda has sold her fourth network pilot this year.The latest is The Circle, a soap/conspiracy thriller sold to ABC which Rhimes will executive produce along with creative partner Betsy Beers.

The other three shows Shonda's working on include Gilded Lillys, an untitled drama centered around a male lawyer, and the coming of age series Wildwood.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Bey's new video for Love On Top (or as I like to refer to it,"The Pregnancy Announcement Song") is finally here. I like it, it fits the song and I think the throwback New Edition/Jackson 5 moves are perfectly choreographed.

Friday, October 14, 2011

I am a child of the 80's and loved the original Footloose with Kevin Bacon. The movie and its soundtrack brings back good memories so when I found out there was going to be a remake I kinda threw up in my mouth. This movie did not need to be remade in my opinion. Is Hollywood so lacking in ideas that they had to go back a couple of decades and resurrect an oldie but goody?

Well I saw the remake today and was thoroughly entertained. First of all I applaud the producers and director for making the cast more colorful which was not the case with the original. A dance movie with no people of color is like a BLT without the bacon: it just doesn't make sense. The two leads Julianne Hough and Kenny Wormald are both great dancers and decent actors but Miles Teller who played the dancing deficient Willard stole every scene he was in.

The movie had great choreography, two of the best scenes being the country western bar and the high school hangout. And yes it does stick to the original script with a few changes, but the changes are not too distracting. The back story of the dancing ban is given more meat and there is more of an adult presence this time around.

I had a great time and here's hoping the Dirty Dancing reboot lives up to or surpasses the enjoyment I received from Footloose.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

I can
hardly believe I am about to enter my last term at Kaplan University. To say
the time has gone by fast would be an understatement. It has been a fun filled
albeit frustrating ride at times (yeah I’m talking to you Statistics and
Financial Aid), but a fulfilling one just the same.

I have
had some great teachers and have interacted with some wonderful students. Even
though I have never met these people face to face, over these ten week terms
you do become a pseudo family of sorts.

The
confidence I have gained has been monumental. Just a few short years ago I
thought this part of my life was never going to happen. I thought I had
forfeited all my chances at a college education, and it was a continual thorn
in my side. Thankfully I did go back to school and acquired a mentor who
encouraged me to pursue my online degree. This led me to researching
online programs like Kaplan and a few others.

To those
of you who are thinking about going back to school I say do it! I can hardly
contain the excitement I feel about what’s coming next for me :)

Thanks
for Sharing is the name of the directorial debut of screenwriter Stuart
Blumberg. Blumberg is best known for co
writing the script for the award winning film The Kids Are Alright which starred
Julianne Moore, Annette Bening, and Mark Ruffalo. Thanks for Sharing also stars
Ruffalo along with Gwyneth Paltrow, Josh Gad, Tim Robbins, Joely Richardson, and
rocker/new mom Pink.

Thanks
centers around a group of sex addicts who undergo treatment for their addiction
and Pink plays one of the addicts.

The film
is currently shooting in NYC and will be released sometime next year.

Brad Pitt gives an exclusive interview to Entertainment Weekly about his newest Oscar buzzworthy film Moneyball, Angelina, and his cinematic regrets (Interview w/the Vampire was not one of his favorite films to shoot). If you want to know why he hated filming the vampire flick pick up the new issue of EW.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Sarah Michelle Geller has made a comeback with the CW mystery series Ringer. On the show Sarah plays twins, one a pampered housewife with an ish load of secrets and the other is a drug addled stripper/hooker who has a target on her back. Needless to say the premiere episode did decent numbers and hopefully the show will continue to do well as the season progresses.

Ebony's new cover features R&B queen Mary J. Blige in a leopard dress and gargantuan earrings. The look is indeed wild child Mary but the interview promises some revelations in regards to her marriage, those nasty demons she battled for years and info on her new album which is due out soon.

Jordin Sparks has been cast as the lead in Sparkle and comedian Mike Epps will play Satin in the updated version produced under the Akil Productions banner (they brought us Jumpin the Broom, Girlfriends, and The Game).

I am looking forward to the remake. Word is Whitney Houston is in the running to play Jordin's mom in the film. No word yet if Paula Patton has signed on officially but when that or any other casting of this much anticipated film occurs I will let you know!

Friday, September 2, 2011

Dwayne Johnson has been offered the role of Goliath in a film based on the Bible story David & Goliath. Taylor Lautner, the hunk who rose to stardom as Jacob in the Twilight series is being courted as David. This could either be an epic fail or an epic win, but my advice to Hollywood is to stick to the Bible because Christian moviegoers will have a lot to say if you don't.

Jada Pinkett Smith's show Hawthorne may have been a hit amongst my Tweet fam but it wasn't bringing in the numbers needed for a fourth season. TNT announced the cancellation of the show today, and I must say I am disappointed. It wasn't a perfect show by any means but it was nice to see a Black woman as the lead in a prime time drama. It does not bode well for new series featuring Black women as the lead when one gets cancelled so if Kerry Washington's show Scandal is any good please support it. Or else we will be watching Basketball Wives: Sierra Leone if network t v has anything to say about it.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Single Ladies, the show I initially viewed with disdain quickly became a summer addiction. Unfortunately one of the three leads will not be returning for season 2.

Stacey Dash who played boutique owner Val opted to not return to the series due to family obligations. The show is filmed in Atlanta, but her kids are in Los Angeles. My thing is, did Stacey not consider this before taking the job or did the tension with LisaRaye play a bigger part in the backstage drama?

All I know is who ever replaces Stacey had better bring it. Stacey's not a good actress, but her role was the show's epicenter (she was Carrie to LisaRaye's Samantha). I vote for Nia Long. I have always liked her and she needs a steady gig. Who would you bring in for season 2?

I saw the trailer for this show and swore to myself I was not going to watch. I watch the Miami franchise, but this one just did not appeal to me. But yet I watched and again I was sucked into the abyss of VH-1's reality programming. I know I am intelligent and above this type of mess but yet I like to be entertained and this is one show that will keep me entertained until the next Miami installment premieres. Check out the trailer below!

Robert Downey and wife of six years Susan Levin have announced that they are expecting a child early next year, and former Who's The Boss star Alyssa Milano and hubby David announced the birth of their son Milo Thomas this past Wednesday. Congrats to the happy couples!

Monday, August 29, 2011

I saw Colombiana yesterday and must say I enjoyed it! From the looks of things Colombiana did very well in the box office race, finishing # 2 behind The Help.

I hope the momentum continues because from the ending a sequel could very well happen. If there is a part 2 I would like to see a better love interest for Catalyna because Michael Vartan (Tom from Hawthorne) does not do it for me personally. His role was purely unnecessary and added nothing to the story.

For you Fame fans, seeing Jesse Borrego as Catalyna's father was nice. He is one of the few from that show who still consistently works it seems. I recently saw him in La Mission with Benjamin Bratt, and if you don't remember him he played Jesse Valasquez on Fame.

Dominion is the next film Zoe has signed on to and in it she will play a half human/half angel. I don't know the plot or the name of her character but Zoe is a producer on the project as well.

I love to see women of color making moves in the industry (that goes for Viola Davis as well). Hopefully this trend will continue.

Last night on the VMA's, Beyonce announcement of being preggers was the highlight of the show. Every reporter and talk show host has asked the star about babies since her marriage to Jay Z and now since a bun is officially in the oven I must say I am genuinely happy for her.

It's common knowledge that marriage before baby nowadays is very rare. It seems as though old fashioned values have gone the way of MySpace and land lines so when a young woman establishes her career , meets the love of her life, gets married, and waits to start a family well it makes me a tad sappy. I also think Jay's reaction is a testament to when things are done in Biblical order, then that is what is always best for everyone.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Kelly Rowland has been in Beyonce's shadow so long that I never thought she'd get from out of it. It seems as though my fellow member of the "Hershey's Kiss Club" has finally come into her own and it took sexing up her image and a huge hit with Motivation to prove she is not just the former group mate and BFF of the hottest female star in the world.

The hype behind Kelly's CD was fueled even more by her performance on the BET Awards, (which I missed) and the remixes of the song featuring hot male acts R Kelly, Busta Rhymes, Fabulous and Trey Songz, to name a few got tails wagging and piqued my curiosity. Could this newly sexualized Kelly Rowland minus Matthew Knowles as her manager finally become the star we all knew she could be? Well so far as I sit here listening to her CD (which has hit number 1 on the Billboard charts), I am very impressed so far.

Here I Am is appropriately titled because Kelly is finally in the spotlight where she belongs and it seems to fit her well. The CD is a fun record and the success of it is just the tip of the iceberg for Miss Kelly who is set to tour with Chris Brown and has landed the coveted role of spokeswoman for Diddy's new fragrance Empress. Not bad for someone who had been written off as another casualty of the Knowles' quest for world domination ;)

Friday, June 3, 2011

One of my favorite singers Pink just gave birth to a bouncing baby girl she and hubby Carey named Willow Sage. Pink and baby are both doing fine, and I am sure we will be getting pics of the new baby soon via either People or OK Magazine!

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

I haven't blogged in a hot minute due to work, school, my PR freelancing, etc., but a lot has been happening in the entertainment sector. Check the snippets below...

Halle Berry is in talks to take the lead in a new cable series entitled Higher Learning. HBO and Showtime both seem to be interested in the project.

Leo DiCaprio as a racist and Idris as a slave? If Hollywood has any sense whatsoever Django, the next Tarentino film will pair these two in the lead roles. Will Smith as a slave...I think NOT!.!

Jennifer Hudson is set to play a nun in the Three Stooges movie. OKAY???

Oprah said farewell in a lavish 2 part finale at the United Center in Chicago and on her show where she waxed poetic on the past 25 years to her audience. No guests on the last show, just O and her mesmerized audience of adoring fans.

Scotty won Idol. No surprise there!

Zoe Saldana is directing some eps of Vin Diesel's new web series called The Ropes about NYC bouncers. No word on when it will debut.

I hope this
turns out well. Gabrielle it seems is trying to become the "Black Rom Com Queen" with a starring role in Tyler P’s Good
Deeds and now this. I have always
liked Gabby, but it seems her personal life has become bigger than her career.
Hopefully the moves she is making now will change that!

Monday, May 23, 2011

Upcoming movie featuring one of my favorite actresses kicking ass and taking names! Only minus: Michael Vartan as the love interest. He's a little too blah for me. Regardless I will be supporting when it arrives in theatres.

The power duo of
Salim and Mara Brock Akil are moving from the t v screen to the big screen with
their reboot of Sparkle. The 1976 film which starred Irene Cara and Lonette
McKee was a fictionalized account of a girl group reminiscent of the Supremes
who rose to fame quickly but soon discovered that fame comes with a huge price.

Salim who has
directed several episodes of his wife’s two series Girlfriends and The Game is
making his directorial debut with the May release Jumping the Broom with Laz
Alonso, Angela Bassett, and Paula Patton. This experience laid the foundation
for Salim to get the reins on the Sparkle project for which Mara will write the
script.

Their small
screen success speaks volumes in regards to their talent, and I have high hopes
for this film which also boasts Debra Martin Chase (The Preacher’s Wife and
Cheetah Girls) as a producer. It will be released under the Akil Production
Company banner.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Tyler Perry's new film has added another name to its cast. Gabrielle Union who starred in Perry's Daddy's Little Girls will play the fiance of Glen Deeds (portrayed by Perry). Glen soon finds himself involved in a love triangle when an ex (Thandie Newton) reenters the picture.

This film is shaping up to be a winner. The supporting cast includes Phylicia Rashad, Jamie Kennedy, Brian White, Eddie Cibrian, and Rebecca Romijn. Good Deeds begins filming on April 25th in Atlanta.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Fans of Beyonce (including myself) now have a date to look forward to for new music. The release of the new CD is slated for June and no title has been released.

Beyonce played six songs for a private listening session in NYC which had a Sony Music head exclaiming the new songs were not only "amazing" but "groundbreaking". And famed fashion design house Cavalli will have their fashions featured in the first video when it is released.

Collaborators on this highly anticipated CD include Sia, Frank Ocean, and Diplo.